Sunday Notes

THE HOMELAND SECURITY people are experimenting with a radio monitor which foreign visitors will have to carry. The experiment starts this week and will be staged at three low-traffic crossings from Canada into the US. Most Canadians are exempt but everyone else will receive an index size radio card which agents can read from about 35 feet away.

It seems half-baked to me. If someone is a terrorist or criminal of another stripe they will discard the card as soon as they get out of the crossing zone.

I am sure, though, that the cards will succeed at annoying our visitors from abroad. I suspect, too, that several other countries will retaliate with their own electronic tracking systems for visiting Americans.

Yes, security is important but we're spending a lot of our energy (and money) on gee-whiz stuff that makes us feel like we're doing something -- but which from a practical standpoint is only effective at reinforcing the ugly American image that got us into this bind in the first place.

CIGARETTES HAVE BEEN BANNED in California prisons. There was fear that the restriction would lead to increased violence. So far that hasn't been the case -- apparently, tough, a smokeless tobacco blackmarket has emerged. Link

THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER The Age is reporting that Christians now outnumber Communists in China. (Link, free registration required)

A NEW STUDY suggests that global warming is increasing the intensity of hurricanes. Link

HAVE YOU TRIED the clusty.com search engine? It delivers results in hierarchical clusters of info -- has a customizable tabs function, toolbar, Mozilla plug-in, a comprehensive newspage, and more. Sleeper. Great tool.

NOW THE FORMER VP THINKS he is re-inventing TV. Al Gore TV (aka Current TV) goes live tomorrow -- although I don't see it on the cable lists for our area -- and I'm not seeing a listing for either DirectTV or Dish Network -- the two biggies in satellite television. Is any company going to carry this network? Link

Actually it does appear pretty interesting -- about 25% of the content will be audience generated. It looks like a hybrid between television and the Internet (something else Al Gore is said to have invented).

DON'T TELL THE CATTLE RANCHERS but we were adventuresome and grilled up some "gardenburgers" last night. And they were GOOD. These were a significant step above the last variety I tried.